Trickster
by Ace5980
Summary: Everyone thought the story was over after Light died, but when Moon discovers one of Light's old Death Notes, everything shifts again. As the new M, she has an obligation to destroy it, but as Misa's daughter, she also wants to use it. What will she do?
1. Introduction

A: Hey, I know this is an old story and everything (actually, it's the first one I wrote), but I decided it needed some rewrites (mostly because the thing I liked most about this story these days is how Moon completely changes as the story goes on), so that's my newer project. Out with the old Moon and in with the new! I'll try to update as often as I can, but the storyline shouldn't change all too much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. (sniffle)

* * *

Introduction

**Shinigami Realm**

A large skeletal shinigami with a jackal head stands up, pushing over the board in front of his companion, another large shinigami with large black wings, pale skin, and red eyes who is eating an apple.

"Where are you going, Jicami, the game's just started?" the pale one asks, taking a large bite from his apple as he did so. Jicami's head turns to regard the shinigami, his floating red eye barely visible over his shoulder.

"I'm going to take a leaf out of your book, Ryuk. It ought to make life more interesting, at any rate."

"Now, the leaf you would be taking is?"

"Stirring things up in the mortal realms."

Ryuk eyes Jicami doubtfully, as though trying to figure out his reasoning. "You know, the whole Light thing is barely eight years old. Recreating Kira won't stir up nearly as much trouble now as it would if you would wait another century or so."

Jicami smiles. "Ah, but if I waited another century, who knows if the girl will still be alive." Ryuk's brow furrows in confusion.

"The girl?"

"Do you remember the girl Sidoh saved before her birth?"

"Little Moon?"

"She's not so little anymore. Apparently, Sidoh infused her with shinigami blood so she's half-and-half. I don't know if this is our genes or hers, but she's now 26 years old, although how she manages to pull off a college student is beyond me."

"Does she know she's Light's daughter?"

"No. Misa kept that from her to protect her. But she seems to have inherited some shinigami powers and quite a bit of her dad's brains."

"How so?"

"She can tell when one of us is looking down on her and she seems to have some residential eye powers. More importantly, I think she's made her own Death Note."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She's killed off about six people already, and those are just ones I know of."

"Why are you going to her now?"

"I bound myself to the old Death Note you had buried in the park."

"And?"

"I think it's time she took up her father's mantle."

Jicami turns then to walk away into the swirling mist of the realm. "Good luck," Ryuk calls after him, settling down to play with the bones again. "If she's anything like Light, you're going to need it," he mutters to himself wryly, taking another large bite of the apple.


	2. Chapter One

A: Heya again! Got through another chapter mostly intact, so yay! Only three major changes here, one as a result of another; can anyone who read the original find them? If you can find even one, I will chuck more frosting at you, this time in the flavor of your choice!

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, otherwise I would likely have been sued many times over for complete stupidity.

* * *

Chapter One

**Earth (Human Realm)**

A young girl sat down on a park bench. She had large eyes and long hair that waved down her back. Her bangs settled in her eyes and with a long practiced motion, she swept them behind her ears.

Her cell phone buzzed. She flipped it open on the way to her ear, glancing at the caller ID first. "Moon here," she stated lazily with a practiced tone that's become almost monotonous to her. It amused her to think her corespondent used an alias while her own "alias" was actually her first name, Moon, spelled with the kanji for _light_; her last name was Amane since she was daughter of the most popular model right now, Misa Amane.

On the other end of the line, a man on the floor licked his lips in anticipation. As a major fan of this girl who had burst onto the detective scene, he's looking forward to working with her again. "Hello, Moon, I was wondering if you had any tips for me on the Parkings Murder Case."

She grimaced, pulling her feet up underneath her body. "Well, I've been working on a few leads, Near, but I don't have any evidence yet. He's being so damn careful, it's demeaning."

"Keep working on it. Call me back if you get anything."

"Will do," she replied and hung up. _Even though everyone depends on me to help them solve all these high profile murder cases, I wish I could be able to find out who my father is_, she thought to herself, staring at the sky as she walked home. Absently noticing her mother's car's absence, Moon unlocked the front door of her house and plodded up to her room. She collapsed heavily on her bed, sighing.

A sudden breeze coming through the window caused a strange sound to occur, the sound of fluttering pages and the thump of a heavier cover on her wooden desk. Moon pushed herself up on her elbows, staring peculiarly at her desk with the black notebook she had not remembered purchasing or placing there. Hesitantly, she approached the desk and turned the front cover over. "Death Note," she read aloud, puzzled. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't quite remember what it is that she is supposed to remember about it.

She flipped open the notebook, curious. _The human whose name is written in this note shall die_. she read. Now she remembered. She remembered the day she had been brought to meet Near, the leader of the Kira case. Near had shown her around the various displays he had made as he rationalized the murders. She remembered the little Plexiglas case that had surrounded another plain black notebook. It had been open to the first page, which read _Rules: The human whose name is written in this note shall die._

She shook her head. Surely, this had to be a joke. There had only been two Death Notes, right? Near had destroyed one and burned the other shortly after she had seen it- hadn't he? She read on. _The note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's name in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore people sharing the same name will not be affected._ She remembered that too. It explained why Kira originally couldn't kill without a name and a face.

Suddenly, she brightened. Her mom had been accused of being the Second Kira- she would know more about this-this- _prank_. Happily, she pushed the notebook aside and lay back down on her bed, closing her eyes.

She didn't notice the skeletal shinigami silently peeking in through her wall, watching her anxiously for the right moment to make his presence known.


	3. Chapter Two

A: Two chapters in one day, I'm feeling mighty generous to everyone! I really need to slow down now though; I'm starting to run out of ways to fix the next chapter. It's really hard to fix what I had, as you'll likely see when you get down there. In the meantime, enjoy this while you can...

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, otherwise Light would hide behind telephone poles with a pair of binoculars to spy on L when the genius detective happens to be right there next to him.

* * *

Chapter Two

Moon walked up the steps to her house. She tried the door. Locked. No problem. She fished around in her pocket for the keys, unlocked the door, and stepped into the house, calling, "I'm home!"

No answer. Her mother must be at the studio, just as she had been all of the week since Moon had found the mysterious notebook on her desk. She padded slowly up the stairs, pausing at the door. She grabbed the paper in the hinge and scuffed her foot along the floor beside the hinge. Satisfied, she then opened her door, closing it carefully behind her. She turned to plop down on her bed when she caught sight of the skeletal shinigami sitting in her computer chair.

"Aiiieghhh!" she screamed, staring at it.

"Peace, peace, little one, I did not mean to frighten you," it said, making calming motions with its hands. She shook her head, having calmed down rather quickly after her first absolute freak-out.

"Kind of hard not to scare someone when you have a skeleton for a body."

"True, true." The girl stared at the creature, trying to resist the urge to ask _What are you?_

She succeeded. "Who are you?"

"I am Jicami, a god of death."

"Why are you here?"

"My dear, you have my Death Note."

"_Your_ Death Note?"

"Yes, Moon, my Death Note."

Her eyes grew wide then. "Oh, _this_ Death Note," she said, pulling the notebook she had found on her desk out of her bag.

"Yes, that."

"Okay, then, you can have it back," she said, proffering the notebook to the shinigami.

"Oh, no, Moon, I cannot take it back, for you see a Death Note that falls into the human realms belongs to the human realms. So you are the current owner of the Death Note, unless, of course, you want me to find another owner..."

"No," she shrieked, clutching the notebook to her. "I can't let this fall into the hands of a criminal!"

"That certainly would be bad for your world." They sat in silence for a moment before the girl was overcome.

"Jicami?"

"Yes?"

"Did Kira only kill mostly criminals, or was he really just a cold-blooded serial killer?" The shinigami smiled ruefully.

"I think the Death Note can tell you that for yourself." Curious, the girl opened the notebook and flipped through the rules, not even looking at them. She already instinctively knew how to use it. She eventually came to the names in the notebook. She saw countless criminals and then the giveaway. Lind L. Taylor was written in large capitol letters across one of the pages.

"This was Kira's notebook," she stated, staring blankly at Jicami.

"Yes," Jicami answered, even though she hadn't asked a question. She looked at the notebook now, not even seeing the names as she flipped through the pages.

"How do you know my name?"

"My dear, I've been watching you since the day you were born. I know everything about you."

"So, then, why did you pick me, Jicami?" The shinigami hesitated. He didn't want to have to talk about this so early. She couldn't handle the truth yet. Instead, he decided to tell her a half-truth.

"I picked you, Moon, because you are Kira's true heir. Not Mikami. Not Misa. You."

She sighed and tucked a bookmark in between the first two blank pages. She set the Death Note aside then, and reached into her bag to pull out a laptop and a ream of paper. "Toss me that pen, Jicami. I guess I'd better get to work."

"That a girl, Moon. Now, what are you planning to do?"

She glared at the shinigami. "I'm going to finish the work my mother started once I make sure I know all these rules back to front."

"Why do you need to find out all of its limitations?"

"Well, because last time there was a Death Note about, Near got ahold of one with Mello's help, and managed to figure out the damned thing. Kira lost. No doubt that with prior knowledge of the Death Note, he'll be on to me faster than anything. Somehow, I don't think Kira found out all there is to know about the Death Note."

"If you need the rules, then you might not want to kill anyone just yet."

"And why's that?" she asked, looking up from the notebook, eyes flat. _Goodness_, thought Jicami, _she's more deadly than any shinigami I've met. I wouldn't want to cross her in a blind alley._

Aloud he said, "Because that notebook's list of rules is incomplete. Kira buried it about halfway through his campaign, so it doesn't have all the rules he discovered, never mind any that he never found out."

Her eyes narrowed angrily. "I guess you'll just have to fill in the blanks then, now won't you?"

"Give me five days, by the human calendar, in the Shinigami realm, and I'll have a complete list of official rules for you."

She gauged him for a moment, weighing the outcomes. "Fine," she snorted, "but you'd better have a very specific set of rules"

He nodded and flew out of the room, vanishing through the wall. As soon as he left, she sagged onto the bed. Putting the Death Note into her bag and closing it firmly, she hid under the covers. "I may be Kira's heir," she murmured, curling up on herself, "but do I really have the guts to follow the same path he did?"


	4. Chapter Three

A: Well, nothing interesting happened this week while writing this. I didn't really think I changed all too much, so nothing of note to put here, other than THE GAME!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, otherwise Light would have died a horrible flaming death for not admitting his true feelings about L and Misa would have gotten hit by some truck back in Chapter One (Yes, I do understand she doesn't come in until about Book 3, but I see no point in this information).

* * *

Chapter Three

The next morning, Moon turned on the television to the news while she was getting dressed, a normal occurrence in her life and an easy way to stay on top of things as M. Today, however, was something different for her. Now that she had the power to kill others with just a face, a name, a pen, and the notebook, she was so much more aware of how utterly messed up her world had become without Kira to keep its criminals in check.

Almost every story in the news was of horrible murders, or other such criminal activity. She paused in the act of pulling her shirt on, sitting down heavily on the bed. _This world_, she mused, her eyes staring at the screen but not seeing anything, _is a right old hell._

As she walked through the streets later, she saw how people had gone right back to abusing the weak without Kira to keep the strong careful. She watched how people were stepped on or ground into the dirt before her very eyes, how some people were simply overlooked in the circumstances of their misfortunes.

_No one, _she realized as she sat on the bus to take her home after her uninteresting trip, _has the audacity to change anything about this world, only punish the criminals _after _their deeds have been done._

_The police won't do anything to prevent the crimes before they happen, and neither will anyone else. I have the power. I have the strength and courage to use it. But can I bear its weight without cracking myself open like an egg?_

"No," Moon murmured, stopping dead in the middle of her street, absent of all other signs of life or movement, even to her shinigami-attuned eyes. "The question is not-"

* * *

_(Several years earlier)_

_A man and a woman were arguing as a girl sat in the shadows of her room, playing with a strange figure that seemed to almost be made of shadows. "She's not ready for this! She isn't even old enough to understand that what she's doing now with that shinigami you found in who-knows-where!"_

"_Misa, if we die one day, she'll be the only person able to take over from us."_

"_She's only a child! She won't be able to take the weight of the responsibility you're placing on her shoulders!"_

"_Misa, I hate to put it like this, but the situation has changed now that L's heirs close in on us both. We flaunt ourselves in front of the shinigami every single moment we continue breathing! The question is not whether she _can_ bear the weight but whether she _must_ bear the weight,-"_

* * *

(Present)

"-and it had become obvious now that I _must _bear the weight if the world is to change for the better, because it won't ever change on it's own. Not without a shinigami's notebook to give the world a good push first."

* * *

Moon arrived in her room, and flopped onto the bed after glancing around the room. "Well, looks like Jicami's not back yet."

"Oh contrar," he said, flying in through the wall again. "You owe me big time, Moon. I had to scan each of the rules and figure out which ones to tell you and which ones not to. After all, it won't do for you to know _everything_ about the shinigami."

"Damn. Continue anyway, Jicami."

"Well, the first five rules written in your 'How to Use' guide are accurate, so we'll start from there, shall we? I'll be teaching you Rules 6-11, 13-49, 51-52, 55-70, 73-75, 77-85, 87-92, 95, 98-113, 115-120, and 124-126.* (which is a grand total of 109 rules she will know out of the entire list of 126, just in case you were wondering) "

* * *

Much later, the girl was sitting quietly, playing with her hands with her legs crossed as she mulled all this new information over. Since she had a memory like a steel trap, she hadn't felt the need to take notes on the rules she had just learned. While not everything had to do with the Death Note in particular, it was still a pain in the ass that there were over 100 rules applying to its use. It was almost as though she thought the note was.... inconvenient at best.

"Well?" the shinigami asked, playing with the small chain around his waist absently.

Moon looked up at him, her eyes glittering. "Oh Jicami," she said sweetly, "Whatever would I do without you?"

* * *

*- See Appendix later, which will be included WAY at the end.

* * *

A: Isn't Moon just about the scariest thing you have ever seen? Still, at least she's managing to feel guilty this time around about using the Death Note. I'M SO PROUD OF HER!!!!!

Oh, and did anyone catch that it was Light and Misa arguing about Moon playing with some other random shinigami I made up? Just thought I'd add that little snippet to make sure you were paying attention to the introduction! If not, then :P to you. Until next time!


	5. NOTICE!

A/N: I am sorry to announce this, but the remainder of this story has been temporarily removed while I go through rewrites. I'm sorry for the inconvenience and frustration this may or may not cause my readers. As a consolation though... (chucks jar of chocolate frosting and runs)


End file.
